UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHRISTCHURCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, 28 October 1921, Page 4

UNEMPLOYMENT IN CHRISTCHURCH

EFFECTS IN THE HOMES !; (By Telegraph-Special ,to Mail) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Dealing with the effects of unemployment in the homes of the people , a canvasser, who has lately been employed in house to house work in one of the poorer districts of Christchurch stated? .that the results were growing- wider and wider. In one street alone, at the, first six houses he visited—they were consecutive —hp found {Very bread winner was out of work. ' All were; either in .the counity .or at a registry office looking for, work, or else at home gardening. One woman * said that for three months her husband had not earn- *! ed anything except a casual pittance l ' now and then. The woman was carrying a baby that needed medical 1 attendance and was, taken etery, otherday or so to the hospital. Asked’ linw they., managed to exist she answered “We” are Jiving on the hqsbandla‘ mother.’’ Many girls were a month? or so ago on half pay or short time l employment, 'and altogether conditions in every house had greatly changed From the times when the husband, hoys and girls all brought home every week end good money. The small shopkeepers arc feeling the pinch l in two: ways. The demand for more luxurious goods had diminished, and the finest* sold were chiefly bread and butter,;' lines. Money was also -harder. Thftr problem has a little, of the brighter side. The seedsmen reported ;ar much;, larger demand for seeds, the reason being that many thrifty _ householders having more time on their hands are engaged in planting their ing t hus to diminish the cost of living.